Molecular-scale metal wires

We introduce a novel technique employing material deposition into nanometer-scale stencils for the fabrication of continuous wires with precisely controlled widths below 10 nm. These molecular-scale metallic structures allow the examination of localization and conductance fluctuations at new length and temperature scales. This study reports measurements of continuous AuPd alloy wires with diameters as small as 3 nm and lengths greater than 1 μm. Quantum mechanical effects in the conductance of such wires are visible at temperatures as high as 80 K.